Consumers’ and Stakeholders’ Acceptance of Indoor Agritecture in Shanghai (China)

During recent decades, there has been increasing awareness of the development of “agritecture” (“agri”culture + archi“tecture”) as a means to transform and revolutionize the food supply of future cities. The different forms of agritecture include building-integrated agricultural concepts such as vertical farms or indoor farms. In this way, urban food production could take place in proximity to consumers while employing so-called “urban waste” products (such as wastewater, waste heat, and organic waste) as valuable production inputs. Although scholars frequently highlight the potential of vertical farming and other agritecture approaches for Asian megacities, there is still a lack of academic research and completed projects related to this field in China. This study uses a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative research in the study location of Shanghai, to reveal the social acceptance of indoor agritecture among consumers and experts. First, to explore the perceptions of consumers, a survey of 713 potential consumers was conducted in Shanghai. Second, these surveys were complemented by 20 expert interviews with academics and practitioners from Shanghai to frame the quantitative research results. Our results revealed that the surveyed consumers’ social acceptance of indoor agritecture and the expectations of the experts are high. Additionally, there is already a high level of demand and a potential market for indoor agritecture in Shanghai. This has been confirmed by the ongoing construction of the first moderate-scale vertical farm and several indoor farms, in combination with the increasing existence of edible landscape approaches and rooftop farms. This development can be viewed as the rise of urban agritecture in Shanghai. The interviews revealed that experts raise more doubts about the economic dimension, whereas its social and ecological dimensions and the contextual framework of indoor agritecture are considered to be positive.Peer Reviewe

Consumers’ and Stakeholders’ Acceptance of Indoor Agritecture in Shanghai (China)

During recent decades, there has been increasing awareness of the development of “agritecture” (“agri”culture + archi“tecture”) as a means to transform and revolutionize the food supply of future cities. The different forms of agritecture include building-integrated agricultural concepts such as vertical farms or indoor farms. In this way, urban food production could take place in proximity to consumers while employing so-called “urban waste” products (such as wastewater, waste heat, and organic waste) as valuable production inputs. Although scholars frequently highlight the potential of vertical farming and other agritecture approaches for Asian megacities, there is still a lack of academic research and completed projects related to this field in China. This study uses a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative research in the study location of Shanghai, to reveal the social acceptance of indoor agritecture among consumers and experts. First, to explore the perceptions of consumers, a survey of 713 potential consumers was conducted in Shanghai. Second, these surveys were complemented by 20 expert interviews with academics and practitioners from Shanghai to frame the quantitative research results. Our results revealed that the surveyed consumers’ social acceptance of indoor agritecture and the expectations of the experts are high. Additionally, there is already a high level of demand and a potential market for indoor agritecture in Shanghai. This has been confirmed by the ongoing construction of the first moderate-scale vertical farm and several indoor farms, in combination with the increasing existence of edible landscape approaches and rooftop farms. This development can be viewed as the rise of urban agritecture in Shanghai. The interviews revealed that experts raise more doubts about the economic dimension, whereas its social and ecological dimensions and the contextual framework of indoor agritecture are considered to be positive

Transcription Factor AtOFP1 Involved in ABA-Mediated Seed Germination and Root Growth through Modulation of ROS Homeostasis in Arabidopsis

Ovate family proteins (OFPs) are valued as a family of transcription factors that are unique to plants, and they play a pluripotent regulatory role in plant growth and development, including secondary-cell-wall synthesis, DNA repair, gibberellin synthesis, and other biological processes, via their interaction with TALE family proteins. In this study, CHIP-SEQ was used to detect the potential target genes of AtOFP1 and its signal-regulation pathways. On the other hand, Y2H and BIFC were employed to prove that AtOFP1 can participate in ABA signal transduction by interacting with one of the TALE family protein called AtKNAT3. ABA response genes are not only significantly upregulated in the 35S::HAOFP1 OE line, but they also show hypersensitivity to ABA in terms of seed germination and early seedling root elongation. In addition, the AtOFP1-regulated target genes are mainly mitochondrial membranes that are involved in the oxidative–phosphorylation pathway. Further qRT-PCR results showed that the inefficient splicing of the respiratory complex I subunit genes NAD4 and NAD7 may lead to ROS accumulation in 35S::HA-AtOFP1 OE lines. In conclusion, we speculated that the overexpression of AtOFP1 may cause the ABA hypersensitivity response by increasing the intracellular ROS content generated from damage to the intima systems of mitochondria